Ms Mairead McGuinness:

I will not respond to the Deputy's comments on the Apple case. I think it has been well argued on both sides. I have made my intervention on that already. To some extent, perhaps it needs to go to the final stage so that there is legal clarity.

On the second point in regard to the treatment of borrowers that run into difficulty, we have had a good exchange about that. There is nobody in the room, online or physically, who does not have huge concerns about what happened in the past because we all know people who experienced difficulties.

I will make two points about this time. One is that, where there are problems, there is an onus on both banks and borrowers to sit down together early and find solutions. That would help alleviate an over-accumulation of non-performing loans. When people are in financial distress they tend not to be able to cope. It is a terrible place to be and I have dealt with many constituents in that position. If there are situations where people know that their business is in a difficult place because of a public health crisis, my plea is that the banks and the borrower get together now.

On the wider issue, we have not heard and I would be interested if there can be a response. The proposals and communication we will come forward with next week on non-performing loans have a twofold objective. Primarily, it is to ensure we can continue the flow of credit into the economy from banks, which is essential, while also managing loans that are not being repaid and protecting the borrower. We have learned lessons from the past. I have referred to this and it is clear. Deputy Durkan made the observation, and I hope I picked it up correctly, that sometimes people when they borrow are not aware of all the details of the loan, interest rates and so forth. That allows me to refer to an issue on which I hope all members of the committee will support me. It is backed up by research. It is that when it comes to financial literacy, many of us do not understand the basic concepts in the financial world, even though we will deal with it on many occasions throughout our lives. It is also true that one third of European households are financially fragile. That means that where they face an unexpected crisis in their finances, they cannot cope with it. There is a very vulnerable sector of our society that needs support on financial issues and financial literacy. We are moving into a more digital world in which everything is instant and immediate. Those of us who had a cheque book and a pen used to have to think, at least, because one was signing the cheque. There is now a generation that does not even know what a cheque book is. We now need to understand that we make more rapid financial decisions. We make them instantly and we need to have knowledge in order that we have the power to make the right decisions.

It is one of my.priorities, a personal priority, to make the financial world more visible to the wider society and to develop a framework on financial literacy so member states can, if they choose, use this framework to make citizens more financially aware. Clearly, education is the remit of each member state but when it comes to finance, we could do a great deal to improve financial literacy to help all of us to make better financial decisions and, perhaps, avoid some of the worst impacts when financial decisions turn out to be difficult or go in the wrong direction. I would appreciate the committee's support for that.